Artemis Solutions Group
DotNetNuke Default.CSS: Seriously??
Monday, June 2nd, 2008 | Artemis Solutions Group, CSS, DotNetNuke, Improving Code, Programming, Ranting, Skinning, Venting, Web Development, Work Stuff | 14 Comments
Here’s another one of the myriad of reasons that I am displeased with DotNetNuke as a web development platform:
The “default.css” included with all installs of DNN has this (and more CSS for other stuff like it) in it:
H1
{
font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica;
font-size: 20px;
font-weight: normal;
color: #666644;
}
H2
{
font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica;
font-size: 20px;
...
(I think you get the point)
Excuse me, DotNetNuke core team, but isn’t stuff like this up to the Designers and Developers? Why are you including a default stylesheet with definitions for HTML elements that would be used by Web developers? I can’t tell you how many times default.css has left me absolutely baffled about the smallest details not being quite right according to our design specs because it has these random “defaults” in it. It’s not up to DNN Core team to define my font families, sizes, and colors. And seriously, stop using pixel font sizing.
It’s becoming clearer to me almost on a daily basis, that DNN is not the right CMS for a professional Web shop to be using. They probably have this default.css for people who don’t make skins or know anything about Web development. And if you remove default.css, it completely hoses all the Admin pages and Control Panel. It takes way too much time and effort to figure out what’s removable and what’s not, and you always end up surprised when some random element isn’t positioned or styled correctly later on down the road.
It’s time for us to move on to a CMS that gives the developer full control over the theme, and not put a bunch of defaults in it that you can’t get rid of.
Modifying DotNetNuke Search and Improving the Results
Saturday, July 14th, 2007 | Artemis Solutions Group, Custom Development, DotNetNuke, Improving Code, Open Source, SEO, Search Engines, Search Modules, Search Results, Stored Procedure Improvement, Usability, Web Development, Websites, Work Stuff | 4 Comments
Recently, I modified the Stored Procedure named “GetSearchResults” to improve the results pages in DotNetNuke web sites. Here is my explanation from the DNN forums.
RetroDC gets included in LogoLounge!
Sunday, May 27th, 2007 | Artemis Solutions Group, Design, Praise, Web Development, Work Stuff | No Comments
Congratulations to Steve Jencks of RetroDC and Artemis Solutions Group for the inclusion of his original logo into LogoLounge, an group that publishes an international book for designers around the world to get inspiration for their logo design.
Page Title SEO
Friday, May 18th, 2007 | Artemis Solutions Group, Programming, Projects, SEO, Teamwork, Usability, Web Development, Websites, Work Stuff, XHTML | 1 Comment
I’ve recently sent out an email at work explaining Page Titles and their importance with SEO. I thought I’d share it on my blog. You may or may not have noticed that my Post titles and page titles come before my blog title in my page titles. I did this specifically because of SEO.
PAGE TITLE: - the text that shows up at the TOP OF THE BROWSER and in GOOGLE / YAHOO / MSN et al SEARCH RESULTS
Why is the page title important? It is what the casual searching web user will see when searching for content / services offered by YOUR CLIENT. So the page titles MUST INCLUDE keywords relevant to the pageâ??s content. The page title should be formatted well and DEFINITELY BE MORE THAN JUST A COPY OF THE PAGE NAME. The client name should be included.
If you donâ??t know how to do a very quick keyword-density page title, then AT THE VERY LEAST, format your page titles like this:
PAGE NAME | CLIENT / WEB SITE NAME
So if your client is Artemis Solutions Group and the page is Web Design
You can AT LEAST type this much:
Web Design | Artemis Solutions Group
But if you want to be keyword-savvy (just do a quick search and read on SEO Page Titles and Keywords for quick reference)
You could format it like this:
Web Design & Development | Lansing, MI | Professional Web site Design | Artemis Solutions Group
Itâ??s worth a LOT to the client for us as developers to think about their web marketing strategy and how their content and custom features affect that strategy. A little bit of Usability goes a long way, and is very easy to do.
Proper page titles take minimal effort, and add superb value to the client.
Kalamazoo Public Library Usability Review
Friday, May 4th, 2007 | Artemis Solutions Group, Design, Projects, Usability, Web Development, Websites, Work Stuff | No Comments
I did a short, very brief usability review for Kalamazoo Public Library today. I thought I’d share it.
Again, it’s very limited and I could have listed more, but I was restricted to so much.
- Web site failed Section 108 Guidelines for Government Web sites:
- http://www.cynthiasays.com/mynewtester/cynthia.exe?rptmode=-1&url1=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kpl.gov%2Fteen%2FHomeworkHelp.aspx
- Menu navigation only works with Javascript enabled â?? text-based browsers can not navigate
- Images not readable with CSS disabled â?? or no ALT tags
- Events link could be converted to front page list of upcoming events
- Link opens in new window to page that does not follow site theme
- External links open in new window
- This breaks the back button (the most used navigation element by internet users)
- Also, breaks desktop experience for users with Tabbed Browsing, eliminates user choice and control
- Internal links open in new window
- Creates confusing navigation experience for most users
- Branch Libraries section confusing â?? pictures do not help describe the links
City of Southfield Web site is Live!
Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 | Artemis Solutions Group, Clients, Praise, Projects, Web Development, Websites, Work Stuff | 1 Comment
From Artemis Vice President, Bunmi Akinyemiju:
Itâ??s been a long 7 months for everyone who worked on the City of Southfieldâ??s website! We are finally live: www.cityofsouthfield.com. Kudos to the team for great work.
This is surely the largest website we have ever built, and surely the most challenging web project we have ever undertaken!
…
Despite all the challenges and hiccups along the way, this was a very unique opportunity for us in many ways.
….
Again, great work to everyone who contributed to the success of this project. Despite the unanticipated size and volume of work and resources that went into thisâ?¦I strongly believe that the visibility benefits from this project will open up several new doors for us.
Joe Sak Receives Praise from Client
Wednesday, April 25th, 2007 | Artemis Solutions Group, Clients, Feedback, Praise, Testimonials, Web Development, Work Stuff | No Comments
I don’t tend to brag but I’m proud that one of my favorite clients, the Greater Lansing Sports Authority had this to say about me in their comments in our Customer Feedback Survery:
Joseph Sak, the Web Developer on the project was a true, dedicated partner in this process. His know-how, as well as friendly and approachable nature made the project not only seamless from a development side, but truly fun and exciting to work on.
and
After having looked at other cities and their sports event planning specific sites in our research process, we now consider our own truly best-of-class.
Check out their web site at www.lansingsports.org. We’re all quite proud of it here at Artemis
[UPDATE]
Since this time, the GLCVB has invited me to their skybox at the Oldsmobile Park, sent me two Christmas cards (one from an employee, one from the company), invited me to a Member Mixer this week, and gave me passes to Be a Tourist in Your Own Town along with a letter of acclamation. I am very thankful for the gratitude, hospitality, courtesy and friendship of the GLCVB marketing staff. They are the nicest, brightest people I’ve met in this industry, and they make me excited to do my job. We have always worked very well together, with friendliness, honesty and fun. Thanks to Brendan, Laura, Tracy, and Laurie. You guys have been all-stars in our work together.
I’m the Proud Owner of an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station
Monday, April 2nd, 2007 | Airport, Airport Extreme, Apple, Artemis Solutions Group, Computers, Hardware, Macbook Pro, Work Stuff | No Comments
I just picked up an Apple Airport Extreme Base Station at CompUSA for $179 retail. I must say I could not be happier with this purchase. Not only was the set up way easier to use than any other router I have ever used (and I’ve used plenty), but the connection is immensely fast.
I’ve set it up at my office to extend the office network, so that I can still have access to the office resources, but I also plugged in my USB hard drive to the back, and am getting speeds similar, at, and even faster than directly connected USB. It’s great! The only problem is if I relocate my Macbook Pro closer to the office 802.11b/g router, I automatically switch to 802.11g, so I have to stay back in my sunless warren in order to be able to work with my hard drive.
That’s fine, but if I can figure out how to make my Airport Card only connect to 802.11n networks at my will, then I will be able to sit anywhere in the office and maintain this speed.
A Little SEO Goes a Long Way
Monday, February 26th, 2007 | Artemis Solutions Group, Programming, SEO, Usability, Web Development, Websites, Work Stuff, XHTML | 1 Comment
Last December, I took on the task of doing my first real Search Engine Optimization (SEO) job for one of our clients: Modern Metal Processing.
If youâ??re unaware of exactly what SEO is, itâ??s basically an organic internet marketing technique where you format your siteâ??s content for search engine robots such as Googlebot to be able to read your site, understand what itâ??s about, and find your pages.
First, SEO isnâ??t just about making your site search engine-friendly. Itâ??s most important to ensure that your content is User-Friendly. Your content should be easy for your visitors to read, understand, and find pages with more content and information on subjects that interest them. Go figure, right?
My favorite example of a site that is well indexed by Google but doesnâ??t offer much content for users is Britney Spearsâ?? Guide to Semiconductor Physics: The Physics of Optoelecgtronic Technology. If you search for â??Britney Spearsâ? on Google, you will probably always find this site near the top of the list. Why? Because the person who made that site knew how to make it matter to search engines.
As funny as it is, it illustrates that even if your search rank is high, your content still matters to users.
Iâ??ll get right down to a few of the things I did for Modern Metal Processing in December that have given them tremendous results on Google in the last couple months.
- Implemented friendly URLs
- Replaced generic content with specific keywords like â??heat treatmentâ? and â??brazingâ?
- Added useful keywords to the Alt tags of all images (note: I didnâ??t add any keywords. I added keywords that describe the image)
- Linked any instance of the keywords and images with keywords in the alt tags to their respective pages that contain more information
- Restructured content so that easiest and most scannable content was up front for the siteâ??s visitors (Usually bulleted lists can help shorten otherwise bulky paragraphs. And theyâ??re perfect for links!)
- Formatted all links to include helpful, descriptive text and keywords. This increases the rank for pages and helps the user, rather than a generic â??click hereâ? or some other such old technique.
- Checked that every navigation element and important image and all content on the site is text readable by disabling CSS through Firefoxâ??s Web Developer Extension
- Added a valid robots.txt file to the root of the site to block useless pages from the index (like login)
- Added a valid sitemap.xml file which is automatically generated through server technology
- Added MMP to Google Webmaster tools for easy tracking
Within a couple weeks, MMP went from 1 or 2 pages in Google index to 29 (thatâ??s all their pages) They are now getting front page results on generic search terms: Top search queries and their average top position
- modern metal - 8
- modern metal processing - 1
- heat treating michigan - 9
- metal process mmp - 2
- heat brazing work - 3
- what is heat brazing work - 3
So what have we learned?
Content is the most important aspect of web pages. Not only should it be readable to the robots, but most of all helpful to the siteâ??s visitors.
The client allowed us to change up their content as much as necessary to cause results, even if it meant hurting egos by not including that content which may not be very helpful or useful to the visitors(or at least not making it the top most important content on the page).
We were allowed to make links within the site that are helpful to the user, and we were able to include and arrange the keywords in a tasteful way that helps the user and the search engine robots.
This is just one of the things we do at Artemis every day.